The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of goal setting as a motivator for kindergarten students in learning grade-level sight words. This study was conducted over a 6-week period in two Midwestern kindergarten classrooms. The participants in the experimental group were trained in self-setting goals and participated in…

While school policies are not a panacea, gender and sexuality diversity-inclusive policies have the potential to relieve educators' concerns about what they are 'allowed' to engage with in respect to GSD inclusivity and to guide their proactive efforts to support gender and sexuality diverse (GSD) students. Unfortunately, policies enabling…

This paper examines two activities in a weeklong Professional Development (PD) focused on implementing mathematical play in kindergarten classrooms. Though the weekly activities all had different goals, the two focal activities (Pattern Blocks and Create-a-Monster) were designed specifically to be both playful and mathematically engaging for the…

International kindergartens, which offer an immersive dual-language (English and Chinese) environment, are popular among middle-class families in Hong Kong. The international learning and teaching environment is cultivated primarily by developing a diverse workforce, in which Chinese-speaking (Putonghua and/or Cantonese) teachers with local…

Teacher expectations influence how children fare in education. However, we know little about how 4- and 5-year-old children in Aotearoa New Zealand perceive their curriculum experiences. This qualitative study utilised interviews to explore the perceptions of 12 children (attending kindergarten and school) regarding their teachers' expectations of…

Scholars have documented the effects of accountability policies on student outcomes and, to a lesser extent, instruction. Beyond test preparation and curriculum narrowing, little empirical evidence has examined the relationship between policy and pedagogy. Guided by social cognitive and achievement goal theories, this study explored the…

Previous research studies have demonstrated the link between parents' education and parental stress level. However, these studies have not taken parents' goal orientation into consideration. Based on the framework of goal orientation theory, we examined how parents' goals would interact with parents' education to affect perceived parental stress…

While educators, curriculum authors and policy makers alike are influenced by assumptions about parents' dis/approval of gender and sexuality diversity, both generally, as well as specifically in relation to this topic's appropriateness for K-12 classrooms, little empirical data is available to support these assumptions. What data does exist…

Identifying correlates of aggressive behavior in children might help to find potential candidates for interventions in aggression reduction. While some previous studies found that children's Theory of Mind (ToM) and inhibitory control (IC) correlate with aggressive behavior, others did not confirm this relation. One explanation for these mixed…

Introducing kindergarten children to the engineering design process (EDP) is an important objective of early STEM education. Studies indicate that children often miss the crucial steps of testing and optimising during the EDP and do not persist in making solutions better. The present study explores how children's goal awareness, self-evaluation…

Previous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) in facilitating English learning. However, no empirical research has been conducted on secondary students' intention to use ITSs in the language domain. This study proposes an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) to predict secondary students'…

Given the great influence gender identity issues have in educational settings, it is critical to understand how students, especially in the K-12 context, are affected and how this contributes to their academic success. This article deals with the potential that lies in teaching topics of gender identity in the additional language classroom.…

In this eagerly anticipated revision of their bestselling book, authors Diane Staehr Fenner, Sydney Snyder, and Meghan Gregoire-Smith share dynamic, research-backed strategies that every educator of multilingual learners (MLs) can add to their repertoire. Including more of what educators loved from the first edition--authentic classroom examples,…

The aim of the study is to examine the relationship between self-leadership and teachers' psychological well-being. Relational screening model was used in the study. The universe of the research is 2465 teachers working at all levels of public schools in Beykoz district of Istanbul. The sample of the study consists of 337 teachers selected from…

This action research project examined a rural band director's attrition/retention and possible reasons for staying or leaving a position. The purpose of this case study was to describe a rural band director's experience with content-related professional development and support networks, providing access to and a process for collaboration in…